1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to gas generating devices with their principal source of energy being the wind. The gas generated is stored as opposed to the system of converting wind energy to electrical energy in which the storage of the electrical energy is a relatively difficult and an uneconomical procedure.
As a fuel, hydrogen is not the most obvious selection among the fuels on earth. Its heating value is approximately 274 Btu. per cubic foot at standard conditions, as compared to methane at 1050 Btu. per cubic foot, standard conditions, or with fossil fuels in liquid or solid form at heating values many times that of hydrogen. However, hydrogen does have two unique characteristics which bring it into proper focus as a fuel; that is, quantity and reversibility. Hydrogen is one of earth's most abundant elements. When used as a fuel, hydrogen combines with oxygen to form water, and is thus a reversible fuel, since hydrogen can again be produced from water by means of electrolysis. Thus hydrogen is also an inexhaustible fuel, and is non-toxic to living organisms. The electrolysis of water has the advantages of the widespread availability of water; and that the absence or presence of pressure makes little or no difference to the process of electrolysis, nor in the energy requirements for electrolysis. Thus, because of the relatively free compression of gases without the further expenditure of energy, it is possible to store gaseous energy in a relatively concentrated form. At 200 atmospheres, hydrogen with 274 Btu. per cubic foot, standard conditions, will occupy about 142 cubic centimeters.
The ability to form gases by electrolysis at wind velocities as low as 1.8 meters per second is necessary because wind velocities around much of the world average a little over 4 meters per second. To be useful, a device to convert wind energy into stored gases by means of electrolysis must be functional well beyond this average. Electrolysis requires direct current electricity at a minimum of 2.5 volts potential available at the electrolyte, but at a high amperage, since the electrical quantity of 96,500 ampere-seconds produces only 1 gram of a substance by electrolysis according to Faraday's Law, which is about equal to 460 Btu, a very low amount in terms of fuel requirements. Low wind velocities or wind pressures require low electrical drag in core losses, counter-electromotive forces, and low mechanical losses from brushes or speed changers. Homopolar electrical generating machines generate voltage according to the formula: e=B1v, where e is the voltage, B the density of lines of magnetic force per unit area, 1 the length of the conductors, and v the velocity of the conductors across the lines of force. In addition to meeting the minimum voltage requirement, the low drag and low wind velocities requirements, the homopolar generator also adds another important and redeeming feature to this invention, which is its shape. This machine can be made into a disc, which fits admirably well into the scheme of things from several design points of view. The primary disadvantage of the homopolar machine are the large brush losses in potential. At low speeds, which is a factor of voltage output, a loss of nearly one volt per brush requires series brush connections, and huge size. Shipping considerations tend to limit the size, so that conductors have been lengthened by giving them spiral shapes on the surface of the disc, as well as employing both sides on the disc armature to carry conductors, in order to offset the problems of obtaining a high enough voltage at low wind velocities to send a current through the electrolyte. These special configurations of a homopolar generator result in a novel design of a homopolar generator to be used in the wind driven gas generator.
The ability to convert and store wind energy at relatively high wind velocities, in a practical matter relating to the fact that, with the process of electrolysis also capable of accepting the higher voltages accruing from greater wind speeds according to the formula above, and the fact that higher wind speeds create a need for more heat due to the wind's cooling effect, a device of this sort, to be useful, ought to supply its end-product in the greatest quantity during the times of greatest need. The configuration of the wind driven element disclosed herein permits operation at high wind speeds because the mechanical components move at velocities less than that of the wind. Due to stresses induced by centrifugal forces, mechanical components and materials have a practical velocity limitation of about 77 meters per second. It will be remembered that a wind speed of 100 miles per hour, a rare, but not unknown occurence, is a wind speed of less than 45 meters per second, and from the above, the mechanical components of this machine move at velocities less than that of the wind. Therefore, the device as represented herein does not need to have, nor does it have, a speed limiting mechanism of any sort. This difference, of mechanical elements subject to speeds greater than windspeed, versus mechanical elements subject only to speeds at or less than windspeed, is a significant divide, or difference, with regard to service range. This difference also represents the novelty of the invention over the known foil-shaped propeller blade wind devices.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore hydrogen and oxygen gases have been formed by electrolysis with the necessary electrical energy furnished by wind energy. However, none of the prior art discloses a means to form hydrogen and oxygen at nearly all windspeeds and to obtain maximum efficiency from the wind machine and gas generator at nearly all windspeeds. The following U.S. Pat. Nos. are, in the opinion of the inventor and upon advice of counsel, the closest prior art of which the inventor is aware:
Winsel 3,484,617 PA1 Carter 3,793,530 PA1 Grossman 4,055,950 PA1 Germain 4,058,979
As can be seen by reference to the prior art disclosed above, and as a matter of general knowledge to the inventor, no means of converting wind energy to stored gases is disclosed which requires no speed governor and which uses direct drive from the wind machine to the gas generator.